Sleep

Sep 12, 2008

I’ve heard stories about people that don’t need to set an alarm. It’s not because they don’t need one, because they can stroll into the office whenever they please, though I’ve known people like that, too. Rather, they just don’t need one: they decide what time they want to wake up, and then they just do.

I’ve never been that kind of person. I’m the kind of person who sets an alarm and then hits the snooze button for over an hour.

But this week, I went to bed every night knowing that wasn’t going to be an option. I knew I would be having early-morning meetings almost every day, and the shuttle from the Metro to our office had a newer, crappier schedule, so I simply had to drag my ass out of bed on time every day. And so I did. This is the third day in a row I’ve woken up before my alarm went off - making it only the fifth time ever, by my count.

Riding on the success of two alarmless mornings, I decided to try an experiment last night. I told myself I wanted to be up at 5:45. I said, I’ve got 7 hours to sleep, and then I have to wake up.

And then I set my alarm for 6. I wasn’t that optimistic.

But then, I woke up at 5:43, and got up right at 5:45. I feel pretty good - better rested than most mornings, and I’ve got some time to write about sleep before heading in to work (the aforementioned shuttle schedule means that if I get to the Metro by work before 7:30, I’ll just be sitting around waiting there, so I’ve got some time to kill at home).

Now, I don’t know if I managed to actually convince my internal clock to wake me up. I may have spent the night half-asleep with one eye on the clock, just to prove I could wake up when I wanted to - we’ll see how I feel in a couple hours, I guess. Either way, I’m going to try this for the next week and see how it goes, because I’d really rather just wake up and start my day refreshed than fight with my alarm every morning.